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Ariz. GOP activists seek to censure McCain

Some Republicans want the state GOP to censure U.S. Sen. John McCain for what they call his "long and terrible record of drafting, co-sponsoring and voting for "legislation best associated with liberal Democrats."

Ariz. GOP activists seek to censure McCain

Some Republicans want the state GOP to buck U.S. Sen. John McCain from his bipartisan saddle and censure him for what they call his “long and terrible record of drafting, co-sponsoring and voting for legislation best associated with liberal Democrats
The Arizona Rebublic

Some seek resolution to oppose his pro-liberal stance on key issues.

President Obama and John McCain during the 2008 campaign.(Photo: Ron Edmonds, AP)

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GOP activists plan to try to introduce a resolution censuring McCain during Saturday's annual state party meeting

Critics cite McCain's work on immigration reform and not going along with GOP efforts to defund Obamacare

GOP activists plan to try to introduce a resolution censuring McCain during Saturday's annual state party meeting in Tempe.

Supporters of the resolution must gather hundreds of signatures from state committee members before the resolution could be debated or voted on since they did not go through the normal procedure required for resolutions to be heard, said Tim Sifert.

The effort comes two weeks after the Maricopa County Republican Party voted 1,150-to-351 at its yearly meeting to censure the senator.

McCain's offenses cited in the resolution included working on comprehensive immigration reform, or "amnesty," and not going along with last year's conservative strategy to "defund" President Barack Obama's signature health-care law.

McCain and his office have not commented on the censure although his supporters point to the party's reputation for ultra-right partisanship. McCain is considering seeking a sixth Senate term in 2016.

"It's something that either has zero impact or any impact it has is counterproductive to conservatives because nationally, Sen. McCain is one of the most effective voices for conservative issues," said Grant Woods, a longtime McCain friend who said the effort is a "petty" stunt.

"He's one of the few people that the other side actually has to pay attention to, and trying to tear him down doesn't do any good whatsoever. The reality is, at the end of the day, it (censuring) doesn't make any difference."

Timothy Schwartz, the Legislative District 30 Republican chairman, was the author of the anti-McCain resolution. He declined to comment on the proposed resolution until after Saturday's state GOP meeting.

"We fully will expect it to pass the state meeting because it passed so large in Maricopa County," he said.

McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, has been dogged by far-right critics in his party at least since he clashed with then-Gov. Evan Mecham, a conservative Republican, in the 1980s.

In January 2007, the Maricopa County GOP conducted an unscientific "straw poll" that McCain's allies viewed as a transparent attempt to embarrass him in advance of the official launch of his White House bid. McCain finished fourth in the straw poll. The winner was Duncan Hunter, a congressman from Southern California whose 2008 presidential run never got any national traction.